Recap of the last few weeks...

Whew, it’s been a while. Where to start?

My poor car had a tree or some other unidentified object fall on it. Since I carpool to work, I hadn’t even looked at my car in a few days because it’s Kate’s week to drive. But Tom noticed if first, a sharp gashed dent in the passenger side fender/hood. I am surprised I’m not more upset. I think I’m just over the fact that it happened and there’s nothing I can do about it but fix it. Tom knows a guy; we’ll see what happens. Cross my fingers that it doesn’t cost a fortune to repair. I don’t even know how much a typical body repair is – I’ve never had to repair a car, my cars have never been worth repairing.

So we weathered the Midwest storms just fine except that little mishap, which I’m not even certain happened as a result of the storm. But we had very little water in the basement so we were the lucky ones compared to the horror stories I’m hearing around the office. Friends of mine had 38 inches of raw sewage in their basement, while they were on vacation in Vegas. So they could do nothing until they could catch a flight home, most of which were delayed due to the weather.

And the part that was really impressive to me was that an entire lake drained. Lake Delton, in a popular tourist destination near Wisconsin Dells, washed itself a new channel and 600 million gallons of water drained into the connecting river. There are plans to refill the empty basin which I think, while economically wise, may not be the best thing. I mean, let nature run its course, no? I wonder how that will work, how will they even refill it, and will the wildlife return, etc.

As for me, I recently returned from Las Vegas. I went for the JCK Jewelry show, which was quite an impressive array of jewelry designers and manufacturers from all over the world. There was a lot of work, a lot of walking, but I had fun getting to know my boss (3rd from right), the COO and his wife (far left), and the CEO and his wife (2nd and 3rd) and one of our vendors (next to me). I got a good taste of Vegas from a working standpoint, but I would love to go back and enjoy the nightlife with my friends. I even gambled – I know, I went against my moral principles – but I won! I put $1 in the 2 cent slot and won $10.12. I took a picture and cashed out – I know how that can suck you in as soon as you start thinking what you would win if you put a dollar or ten in. We saw the Cirque du Soleil and ate at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant, walked the strip, shopped the Caesar’s forum shops, smoked cigars in La Fuente, and met countless contacts in the jewelry industry. Unfortunately, all the brochures we wanted to ship back to ourselves from the Venetian were lost. No telling what happened to them but a significant reason why you go to those shows is to bring back design ideas from vendors and that part of the trip never made it back. I’m glad I took good notes.

As for the homefront, I think Tom’s son Nate will be staying with us over the summer. He is 15 and he’s a good kid, I’ll just have to get used to having another person in the house. I think it will be really good for Tom to spend some time with his son too.  Another thing I’m very proud of is that I have set up a bill payment system which allows me to budget without budgeting. With National City I can set up automatic bill payments every week, so I know exactly what is left each week. The money that’s in there is mine to dispose of, besides gas and food, etc. So far it’s been going well but unfortunately I have to begin paying off my student loans in another month because I dropped below half time. And I need to have a serious talk with myself because I really don’t wanna go back to school this fall. I know I will lose momentum but it has been kind of nice making decent money and working regular hours. I get a little sick of the 9-5 grind but in a lot of ways it is better than 7am-6pm days and running to class and trying to study, meet with study groups, etc. I don’t know yet what I’ll do.

So that’s my recap to bring me up to speed, so that now I can just jump in and post random blog entries on a whim. ☺